1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to leakage current protection devices, and more particularly relates to improved ground-fault circuit interrupters with a reverse wiring protection function.
2. Description of the Related Art
A receptacle type ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) device with reverse wiring protection is described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,009,473, issued Mar. 7, 2006. This device provides both leakage current protection and reverse wiring protection that protects against incorrect wiring during installation. Such a GFCI receptacle has a pair of input terminals for connecting to power lines, a pair of output terminals for connecting to a load, and one or more insertion outlets on a faceplate of the receptacle each for receiving the prongs of a plug. When installing the GFCI receptacle in the wall, if the power lines from the wall are incorrectly connected to the output (load) end of the receptacle, the GFCI device effectively cuts off power output at the input end of the receptacle. However, when such reverse wiring occurs, the insertion outlets on the faceplate still has power. Moreover, the insertion outlets are not protected against leakage current by the circuit interrupter. This compromises the safety of the device.